Making Peace
by TheSilentTrowaBarton
Summary: OneShot Katara finds Mai in a stream and confronts the injured girl. Katara finds out there’s more to Mai’s loyalty then being board. hints at Maiko, nothing to Zutara. Sadly I wanted to put it in and it didn’t seem right. I’ll try to get one with some in


Making Peace?

A/N: Dedicated to my cosplay partner. Just felt like writing something interesting.

Disclaimor: I don't own avatar. :cries: I just want a little piece :begs:

Mai grimaced at the girl standing before her.

"What are you doing here?!" Katara shouted.

Mai's thoughts ran to her ankle, as she pulled the Fire Nation sheet tighter around herself. Her eyes glanced to the shore, to her clothes, and then she pulled the sheet tighter around herself and shook her normally tightly done up black hair.

"Nothing." She muttered.

"No, you're not doing nothing." Katara shouted to the girl standing in the stream.

"Ok, then what am I doing?" Mai rolled her eyes, wishing dearly for a whitty comment from Azula.

"…why don't you tell me?" The girl quickly tossed a water whip in Mai's direction.

Mai jumped to the side hoping that her ankle would hold her some, but finding that it would fail her just as quickly as it could have held her up. She tumbled into the water pathetically letting out a gasp before she hit the water. When she pushed herself to the surface she gasped quickly and glared at the girl while grabbing hold of her sheet. "Look what you did." She muttered, pulling herself to her feet. "It's all wet."

Katara paused for a moment, then let down her guard, "Why are you here?"

"Azula took off after your friend, Zuko went off after Iroh, and Ty Lee _was_ with me, but I guess finding Azula was more important." Mai looked off to her side. "I screwed up my ankle, and there's no catching up fast if I'm hurt. No use rushing if I'm going to permanently damage myself."

Katara smirked, "Well it serves you right." She balled her fists and looked off to the side, "At least one of you is having a miserable life. Look what you all do to us…you're constantly ruining peoples homes, destroying families. …What you all did to BaSingSe! How could you?!"

Mai shook her head and limped to the shore and sat down, "You really think that only one of us is having a miserable life?" Mai tried to keep her normally cool attitude.

Katara looked at her but said nothing.

"Zuko said you already know some about him. His father has practically disowned him and he's finally just getting back to normal. I've been moved out of the fire nation so that my father can have his wonderfully pampered job in New Ozai. Ty Lee ran away from home to join the circus, and Azula is only doing this to make herself look good to her father." Mai rolled her eyes, "Agni knows what would happen if she didn't suck up to daddy."

Katara sat on the grass next to the pale girl, "So why are you all with her?"

Mai sighed, at this point, she could really care less, "Ty Lee was basically forced into this. Zuko knows that as long as he stays in good light with Azula, that he has a better chance at home. And as for me…" Mai smirked then allowed herself a less giving answer, "I needed to get away from home."

"Oh." Katara hummed. She looked at Mai's swollen ankle and then back to her face.

"I popped it out of the socket while running after the Avatar with Azula, my foot got stuck in some branches… it's not like me to be careless… but…"

"But?" Katara eased up. Mai was as useless as a hog-monkey without her arsenal of weapons. Katara knew full well that Mai would have a knife or two on her, but in order to actually take her down, the girl would have needed all of her knives, stars, darts, and miscellaneous shrapnel.

"I got distracted." Mai muttered.

Katara raised an eyebrow. What could distract her?

"So I ended up averting my gaze for a second, missed my footing, and the next thing I new, I had pulled my leg just a little further then it was willing to stretch. Your friend had thrown some air blast or something to launch us all back a distance. He missed Azula and nearly hit me."

"Well that's good… I mean…" Katara felt a tinge of sympathy as she watched the girl's expression become slightly depressed.

"I ended up trying to place it like we were taught in the academy, but I pinched a nerve and tried walking on it, only to find it wasn't that pleasant of a feeling, and the more one focuses on a wound, the more distracted one can become."

"You ran and tripped?"

Mai nodded, "Ty Lee paused, but only long enough to get yelled at by Azula. She said she'd come and get me… it's been a few days now…"

"How many?"

Mai felt herself laughing hysterically on the inside. This girl trusted her far too well, "Three. Azula should be getting scout parties out today. She's not going to lose me."

Katara nodded, "Then I'll be leaving here pretty soon."

Mai glared at her, "That would be nice."

"Hey! I listened to you talk! You should be grateful! At least Zuko wasn't such a barbarian."

Mai glared lightening and lava and everything horrible she could think of at the girl, "What?"

"You heard me!" Katara glared ice cycles back, "Or is it really that bad in your country to be compared to him?"

Mai stood up abruptly, allowing herself to rest her weight fully on her ankle, "Don't you dare speak badly of him." Her voice came out more of a hiss then a shout as Katara would have expected, but what she had said wasn't what Katara had expected.

"Why not? I thought you all hated him. Well it's great to know at least one member of the Fire Nation doesn't hate him!"

"Don't speak to me that way peasant. Didn't your elders teach you never speak to nobility unless you're spoken to first?" Mai felt herself repeating old lines that she would have used against petty soldiers.

Katara stood, "Well EXCUSE ME! I didn't know it was a crime to speak to someone who you could easily kill with just a few hits!"

"Don't think so boldly of yourself. I'm not a fool enough to let you take me down." Mai continued to hiss words through her teeth and glare that the untangled girl.

"If you could so easily take me down, why haven't you done it? And why hasn't your own nation come to get you?! My team would have come back for me as soon as I left! You're just a tool! Don't you get it! The entire fire nation is using you!" Katara was whipping her fists backwards, causing some waves to rise on her right side in the river.

The words caused Mai to pause, "…Azula hasn't sent a team out yet, because she thinks well enough of me, that I can get back on my own."

"You said that one of your team members saw you get hurt, so why didn't they come back to get you as soon as you were?"

"Catching the Avatar and Iroh is priority…" Mai whispered harshly.

"Hon, I'm traveling with the Avatar, and your team is LONG gone, so now what?" Katara folded her arms and sat on the grass where she had been before.

Mai stared at her for a moment, then suddenly felt a sharp piercing pain shoot through her leg and she fell to the ground. "Then… They're after Iroh…"Mai placed her ankle into the cold water.

"Don't lie to yourself, you're not stupid." Katara muttered.

Mai reached to the pile where the clothes and knives were and gripped a dagger of hers tightly.

"What's that?" Katara asked, becoming barely interested with the small golden tassel hanging from the jewled knife.

"Azula gave it to me when we were younger." Mai whispered. Her eyes were low slit and she was beginning to look weary.

"…why are you with them?" Katara shifted herself to look out over the river.

Mai copied her, "For Zuko." She muttered.

"What?" Katara's eyes widened a bit.

Mai just closed her eyes and sighed, allowing herself to shiver.

"Why?" Katara asked, wondering what would possibly drive her to follow Azula for Zuko's sake.

Mai just averted her eyes to the water and sighed.

"Why would you want to follow Zuko? Everyone hates him so much, or at least that's the gist that we all get over on this half of the world."

Mai just continued to stare at the water, tossing her dagger in and watching it sink to the bottom with the rocks.

"…"Katara eyed the girl for a moment before she gasped, "Oh my gosh…"

Mai just glared at her.

"You're totally crushing on him…" Katara was quite for a moment, then burst out into a fit of laugher.

"Shut up!" Mai glared at the girl.

Katara pounded her fist on the ground and looked at her, "What in the world could make you like him?"

Mai glared at her, "It's none of your business." She felt herself clenching her jaw tightly.

"Seriously!" Katara breathed slower and sighed, rubbing the corners of her eyes. "Why?"

"Just stuff." Mai muttered leaning over and fishing the dagger out of the water.

"Stuff?"

"I've known him since we were kids…"

"How old were you?"

Mai shrugged, "I couldn't have been but six or something."

Katara smiled, "Aw! How cute!"

Mai glared.

"So you got past the scar pretty easy?" Katara eased up on what she was originally going to say.

Mai glanced over at her, "He didn't have the scar until two years ago. So, no, I liked him before that." Mai paused, letting a wide grin cross her face, "Though something about it…"

Katara shook her head, "You're morbid."

Mai nodded, eyes gleaming a little, "I know."

Katara looked at her, feeling a lot more compassion then before, "So…" She looked down at Mai's ankle, remembering a similar scene with Zuko, "If you want, I can heal your foot for you…"

Mai looked down into the water. "…I guess… I might kill you though…."

Katara smiled, "And you might miss. And if you do I'll get back to camp with a little dirt on you. Then there's the option healing you, and you could have never gotten injured, and just taken a detour, and we could have never met, and go back to being like it used to."

Mai nodded, "Sounds good." She lifted her foot out of the water, setting it next to the girl.

"Wow… it's really bad." Katara grimaced, "You really shouldn't have walked on it." Katara pulled some of the water from the river and Mai watched slightly intrigued as she felt the pain be replaced with comfort.

"…thanks…" Mai stood up putting, some pressure on it. "Seems good…"

Katara nodded, handing the girl her bundle of clothes, "Here…sorry I shouted…"

Mai nodded, "Sorry I called you a peasant…" Mai paused for a moment, "Could you bend the water off this sheet, and out of my hair?" She had an amused tone to her voice.

Katara nodded, flicked her wrist, and smiled.

"Thanks." Mai spun around, allowed the sheet to drop, and quickly slid into her clothes.

She shook her head, "You could have warned me." Katara slapped herself in the face.

Mai shrugged, "Oh well." She stretched her arms out and fluffed her hair, beginning the process of putting it up into its normally 'uppity' state. "It's good to be me again." Mai stared at herself in the water in order to get the dimensions of her hair correct.

"…" Katara sighed and walked the other way.

"Hey." Mai stated, reaching a hand out.

Katara looked at it for a moment then shook it, staring at Mai's black gloves and already equipped wrist-dart gun. Softness for the girl started in her heart. She could have already taken her out… couldn't she have?

"Thanks." Mai nodded, still putting her hair up with the other hand.

"Sure thing. Next time give me a running start and we'll be even." Katara smiled.

Mai nodded, "Sure thing"

A/N: I'm not sure about Katara's character, I really don't ever write as her. she's not my favroite person in the world. Thank you vurry much my readers! it's been nice to get reviews like I have! And I'm beginning to notice how all of my stories in a way intertwine!


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